Police Kill Suspect At Arlington Car Dealership

ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) – A police officer shot and killed a man who smashed into a car dealership early Friday in south Arlington. It happened just after 1:00 a.m. at the Classic Buick GMC dealership located along Interstate-20 near Collins Street.

Police were patrolling the area when they were alerted about a possible break-in at the car dealership. When officers arrived at the scene, they found that the suspect had rammed his SUV into the location and was inside of the showroom. A confrontation then followed with several police officers involved, and one of them was forced to fire his weapon.

“In a burglary call, we observe the suspect. We are going to take the least amount of force used to take any suspect in custody. We observed our suspect,” explained Sgt. Paul Rodriguez with the Arlington Police Department. “Officers confronted him and, during that altercation, deadly force was used.”

The suspect was struck and pronounced dead. Authorities have not said if he was armed or how many times he was shot. His name has not yet been released. Police have also not yet identified the officer involved in the shooting.

“We are sensitive to any loss of life. We see that as a tragedy,” said Rodriguez.

Investigators are still trying to determine what exactly happened during this fatal incident. More information is expected to be released later on Friday. The Arlington Police Department does not use body cameras on their officers, however, the squad car dashboard cameras were rolling. Detectives will also review surveillance video from inside and around the dealership.

There is not usually security around the car dealership at night, but the location is well guarded by gates at the entrances. It is not clear how the suspect managed to get past the gates and onto the car dealership’s property. “At night, sometimes, they do have people come in and out. Drivers do drop off vehicles here at night. I’ve seen that before,” Rodriguez added. “I don’t know if they lock the whole perimeter up or not.”